Design by constraints

Sorry about the delay - I don't know how the regular bloggers do it every day :)

One of the most powerful tools, in my opinion, in designing your army is the use of constraints. Now we're all used to some for of constraint - nearly every game out there has some form of limitation on how you create your force. Points, FOC charts, unit size restrictions - all these and more enforce a set of rules that constrain the choices you can make.

But that's not what I'm talking about here - I'm talking about self imposed constraints. Limitations that you place upon yourself in order to challenge yourself or to shape the composition of your force.

Constraints can be an interesting way to improve your game. The way this type of limitation works is this: Perhaps there is a unit that you always take. You've designed your force around it, and all of your opponents have come to expect the presence of the unit. So for a game (or more): Don't take it. Force yourself out of the comfort zone and see how you do without this unit. Surprise your opponent. The unexpected can be powerful, and you'll sharpen your skills without relying on your go-to unit. This is a great thing to try with those units that you consider auto-include. Another way to do this is the opposite approach: Those units you find to be useless, pointless, worthless - give them a try. Stretch your tactical muscles. See if your skills can lift up a mediocre unit. Maybe something isn't as bad as your feared.

Note, I'm not recommending this approach for those of you who are in-it-to-win-it on tournament day - these sorts of experiments should be done in friendly games, leading up to the big day and helping you to be a more skilled player. In many games, the dice can be cruel, or there are effects that might remove your favorite unit - so make sure you practice some without it.

For me, I apply constraints as a way to build a fluffy or thematic list. When I come up with an idea for a force, somes story describing the army I'm building, one of the first things I do is to ask myself what units are required, and just as important, what units should be restricted or prohibited so that my force is "true" to the concept or theme.

As an example, in the 40k fluff, the White Scars don't use dreadnaughts (it's there, go read the old Adeptus Astartes books). So, in building my sons' White Scar list we're not taking any dreadnaughts (even though they are cool). And obviously he's taking bikes :) Two constraints that are not in any way required by the rules, but certainly contribute to the thematic integrity of the list.

All of this is leading up to my current 40k, Infinity, and Heavy Gear projects. More on that later...